News from the Library of Congress

June 8, 2000

The Library of Congress has just published the
cumulative index to its 25-volume series
containing the surviving correspondence of the
344 delegates who attended the Continental
Congresses during and after the American
Revolution.

In addition to the 800-page index, volume 26 of
Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774- 1789,
edited by Ronald M. Gephart and Paul H. Smith,
includes a complete record of delegate
attendance for the 15-year span that the
Continental Congresses met. Both the index and
comprehensive delegate list are an amalgam of
the index entries and lists of delegates in the
25 preceding volumes of correspondence.

The cumulative index, a 3.5 million-byte file in
electronic form, contains more than 20,000 main
entries, from John Abail, a Seneca Indian chief,
to John Zubly, a Georgia delegate, with an
additional 30,000 subentries and more than
250,000 page references. While the main entries
are arranged in alphabetical order, the
descriptive subentries are arranged
chronologically and in ascending order of the
initial volume and page reference.

The overall arrangement allows the reader to
scan lengthy main entries such as Congress;
Continental Army; Washington, George, and
individual countries and states in the order in
which events unfolded. Readers can now follow
easily the legislative careers of well-known
figures such as John Adams, Henry Laurens, James
Madison, and Robert Morris as well as such
congressional stalwarts as Roger Sherman of
Connecticut, Thomas McKean of Delaware, Elbridge
Gerry of Massachusetts, John Witherspoon of New
Jersey, James Duane of New York, Hugh Williamson
of North Carolina, James Wilson of Pennsylvania,
William Ellery of Rhode Island, and Richard
Henry Lee of Virginia.

In addition, the index contains hundreds of
references to such topics as ships, seaports,
privateers and prizes, admiralty court cases,
foreign statesmen and military leaders, paper
currency, newspapers, and pseudonymous
pamphlets. It also sheds light on Congressional
involvement in military and diplomatic affairs,
the work of hundreds of congressional commit
tees, the affairs of congressional departments
such as war and treasury, and the contests over
the location of the federal capital. There are
dozens of entries as well for Western lands,
Indian tribes, exploration and migration,
Canada, and the Spanish border lands.

The publication of this material began in 1976
with a generous grant from the Ford Foundation.
It supersedes the 80-year-old Letters of Members
of the Continental Congress prepared in eight
volumes by Edmund C. Burnett.

A digital version of volumes 1-25 is currently
available on CD-ROM from Historical Database. It
is the first time that a major historical
editing project of the nation's founding has
been available in a fully searchable electronic
database as well as a traditional print format.
It may be ordered for $325 from Historical
Database, 6387 Southeast Highway #42,
Summerfield, FL 34491 or by calling (800)
347-3094. More information may be obtained on the
company's Web site (www.historicaldatabase.com (external link)).

An internet version is planned for 2001 to be
accessible on the Library of Congress American
Memory Web site memory.loc.gov. A number of
related materials, such as the Library's
34-volume Journals of the Continental Congress are
already accessible on the Century of Lawmaking
home page (memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw).

Volume 26 of Letters of Delegates to Congress,
1774-1789 is available by mail from the
Superintendent of Documents, New Orders, PO Box
371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Telephone
orders may be placed by calling (202) 512-1800
to charge copies to VISA or MasterCard, or by
sending a fax to (202) 512-2250.

The 805-page work sells for $49 (cite stock
number 030-000-00285-7 when ordering by mail or
by telephone). Previous volumes, at various
prices, may still be obtained from the
Superintendent of Documents.